Red Hunting Hats
When Phoebe got off the carousel, I told her that we should probably start heading home, because it was starting to get late. We left the park and began walking since we didn't have enough money for a cab. I tried to get her to walk quickly so that we wouldn't get so soaked from the rain, but it was beginning to pour down, and you can't move that fast when you're dragging a suitcase behind you in the busy streets of New York. I told her that we better stop somewhere and wait for the rain to lighten up, so we went into some nearby café.
The place we went into was practically empty, except for a couple sitting in the corner. We made our way over to one of the many open tables and sat down. I helped Phoebe out of her coat, and placed her suitcase under the table. By now I was soaked since I was sitting on that bench in the park for a while and all, so I took off my hat and placed it on the table hoping that it might be able to dry off a little before we had to leave again. We ordered some hot chocolate, and just sat there in the silence for a while until it came.
"You know last night when we were talking?" said Old Phoebe interrupting the silence.
"Yeah."
"Do you remember when I asked for you to tell me something that you like, and you told me that you like Allie? Well I was thinking that I like Allie too."
"Alright," I said, "but I was able to come up with something else that I like."
"Really? What is it?"
"My red hunting hat." Phoebe looked at me like she didn't understand.
"I like it because this whole time that I have been wondering in this city, it has been here with me, and it makes me feel good," I explained.
"I guess that makes sense."
We continued to just sit there, sipping our hot chocolate every once and a while. One of the things that I liked about Phoebe was that you could just sit there with her and not even talk. That silence just made me so goddamn happy, and I don't even know what was so special about it.
I looked out the window and saw that the rain was beginning to clear out, so I mentioned to Old Phoebe that we could get going now. I got up and helped her put her coat on, she picked up her suitcase and we began walking towards the exit. Suddenly, Phoebe stopped, dropped her suitcase, ran over to the table and grabbed my hunting hat.
"You almost forgot this," she said. She ran back over to me and handed me the hat.
"Thanks," I said, "I don't know what I would have done if I had lost this." She picked up the suitcase again and we headed out.
As we were walking on the street everything started to seem very familiar, and I realized that we were near McBurney School, that place where we were supposed to have the fencing meet, except I lost the foils. I remembered how the team kept making fun of me, and Ackley's disbelief at how I could've forgotten something like that. I saw a group of phonies leaving the school. Guys who go to fancy schools like McBurney, Whooton or Pency are always phonies cause they want to be the richest or most popular. Everyone competes to be the best at something, and that's all that matters at places like those. I spotted a familiar looking store across the street and grabbed Phoebe's hand.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
I didn't answer her question and led her to the end of the block where we crossed the street, and entered the store I had been to that one time with fencing team.
"What are we doing here?" she asked me, and looked around.
"I'm gonna get you your own red hunting hat," I told her.
Phoebe looked up at me with so much excitement, and I went up to the guy working there. He reminded me a lot of Ackley, since he was very tall and had lousy teeth, but I bet he wasn't nearly as bad a slob as that Ackley kid. I told him that I needed a red hunting hat exactly like the one I was wearing, and that it couldn't be a different in any way. He turned around and went to the back of the store where he picked one up and brought it over to the counter. He placed it right in front of Phoebe and she carefully picked it up and placed it on her head, as if it was worth a million dollars. She put it on the same way that I wear mine with the peak turned around to the back, and looked at me with a big grin on her face. She gave me a big affectionate hug, just like the one she had given me the night before in her room, nothing could've wiped that smile off of her face. That nearly killed me; Kids always get the most happiness out of the simplest things.
"It the hat still a buck?" I asked the employee.
He nodded back, and I handed over the money. I was practically broke by now, but I knew it was something that Phoebe wanted, and I felt bad that the Little Shirley Beans record I had bought for her had broken. I told Phoebe that I had decided I was going to go home with her, and tell Mom all about getting kicked out and being in New York for the past couple of days. I could tell that she was glad I was coming home, and we went home together in out matching red hunting hats.
The End. Please comment, Thanks.